Basics of Wire Sculpture

Series Summary

The art of wire sculpting has a history dating back thousands of years. Wherever the technology has existed to refine metal and draw wire, artisans have found ways to adapt the material creatively. Today, wire sculptures and figures take a variety of different forms, and the artist is only limited by their own imagination. Certainly, those who have begun the world of wire sculpting know that the possibilities are endless! Whether your goal is to impress friends or tap into your unconscious artistic ability, learn how to create a homemade garden, wall, or 3D wire sculpture.

In this free video series, learn how to make a simple wire sculpture. Deb Huglin Vogel shows you how to take one piece of wire and transform it into a lizard! Learn the types of wire to use for wire sculpting, and learn the basic tools that you need. If you want to add detail to your wire sculpture, Deb shows you tricks and tips for making scales on your lizard sculpture. So, what are you waiting for? Let the inner artist come out, and learn how to make wire sculptures today!

Video Transcript

"DEB HUGLIN VOGEL: Hi, I'm Debbie "The Roboteer." I'm here for Expert Village at San Diego Art Institute: Museum of the Living Artist. And I'm going to make a wire sculpture with one piece of wire, just the way Sandy Calder taught me. I actually am a professional sculptor, and I'm from Des Moines, Iowa. We were really lucky in Des Moines to be in the heart of great magazines and art when I was a kid. Life magazine and Look magazine were there, and there's a fabulous art center called the Des Moines Art Center there. Peggy Patrick was the head of studio classes, and even as a small child, I got to go and be in the studio classes and learn with real artists. At the same time, Sandy Calder, who's Alexander Calder, one of the greatest mid-century modern sculptors on earth, was making a bank in my hometown. And so I got to work with him quite often. He made a bank at 801 Grand, which is oddly enough a place that was torn down to make a 44-story skyscraper that I worked on later in life. Sandy made sculptures out of one piece of wire, and even though it doesn't look like it's one piece of wire, it's very strong like a giant safety pin. So we're going to make a lizard in this very same style, and hopefully, you guys will get to make lots of sculptures in the way Sandy taught me, because it is so much fun and it's something called kinetic art. It actually has movement. It has tensile strength. You can make it do whatever you want. It's great stuff."